'I needed to be part of this show'

Laura Prepon was parasailing around a German castle when she got the call to read for Orange is the New Black. The 33-year-old had been rejected for the lead role of Piper Chapman, but showrunner Jenji Kohan had another plan for the former sitcom star. “She couldn’t get me out of her mind for Alex,” Prepon recalls, referring to Alex Vaus, the drug smuggling lesbian that lands her former lover in jail for a crime the two committed a decade earlier. “And it worked out because Alex is the role for me.”

Here Prepon discusses how she landed the role, her uncomfortable relationship with on screen nudity and rebuking lesbians when they try to ‘turn’ her.

Alex is a very different from Donna Pinciotti, your character on That ’70s Show. How did you end up getting the part?

I read the pilots every year and a lot of it is another Law & Order, another CSI, another doctor show — they’re all the same. This pilot came across my desk and it was unbelievable. It was so different from anything I’d read in so long. I needed to be part of this show.

I originally auditioned for the role of Piper, which I knew I wasn’t right for but I didn’t care. I just wanted to be part of it. After I auditioned I went parasailing around a Germany castle. When I got back they told me that Taylor had gotten the part but asked if I’d be willing to read with her for the role of Alex. I was like, ‘Wait, the manipulative, drug smuggling lesbian? OK.’ So I nailed it and 48 hours later I had to move my whole life to New York for a year.

When I spoke with Jenji she told me you set the bar during the the Piper auditions.

I didn’t want to boast but, yeah, she told me that too. She said the reason I didn’t get the role of Piper was she didn’t believe that I wouldn’t be able to defend myself in prison, but she couldn’t get me out of her mind for Alex. And it worked out because Alex is the role for me.

How do you get into the mindset of a manipulative, drug smuggling lesbian?

I was worried about that. The real Alex is M.I.A. so what I tried to do was basically relate to her as a woman. Humanize her and find out what it is about her that made her do what she does. Basically, based on my own experiences I tried to relate to different sides of her.

What did you discover about Alex during this process?

She’s basically power hungry. She runs this drug smuggling ring because it gives her a position of control over these girls who are her drug mules.

That power struggle also comes into play in her relationship with Piper.

Alex sees herself as the spider and Piper as the fly. She initially manipulates Piper with sex, but what’s funny is Alex ends up falling in love with this girl. Piper is the love of Alex’s life.

As you mentioned, their physical relationship is key to Alex and Piper’s dynamic. Were you comfortable with the nudity the role demanded?

I had a lot of discussions with Jenji about that. The nudity was a problem for me. It’s one of the reasons I was originally unsure about taking the role. I’d done it once before but it was for a very specific reason and for this I didn’t know if I wanted to do it. So we talked about it and Jenji made the point that in the prison it’s basically like a women’s locker room. You walk around naked and it’s like ‘Whatever, we all have the same equipment.’ So we talked and she assured me it would never be gratuitous and whenever we’d do nudity we’d talk about it and make sure it’s done in a way that I’ll be super comfortable. And it always has been.

Laura Prepon (L) and Taylor Schilling (R) in Orange is the New Black.

You also had to create a forced intimacy with Taylor Schilling.

Taylor and I are super comfortable with each other. The first scene we shot together is when we get naked in the shower.

That’s an awkward introduction.

Yeah, it was like, ‘Hey, nice to see you again,’ because I just met her once during the reading, and then we jumped into the shower. And it was amazing, we had such good chemistry.

People ask me what it’s like to play a lesbian and be in love with a woman and it’s really interesting because the one thing I learned is if there’s chemistry there’s chemistry — whether it’s with a man or a woman. Taylor and I have really great chemistry so when we had to do love scenes it was comfortable because the chemistry was there and it comes across on screen. I’ve done scenes with guys were there’s no chemistry and it’s awful, but with her it’s there.

Do you think there’s still a stigma to playing a lesbian on television?

I don’t know. I’m a supporter of the gay and lesbian community. I have friends who are lesbian, I have friends who are gay. It’s all about the character. Yes there are a lot of lesbians on this show. Besides the L Word there aren’t lesbians portrayed like this on television. For me, I’ve never played a lesbian before and I think it’s awesome. As a learning experience playing this love for someone on camera and having it be a women was very interesting because I’m straight and I’ve only done it with men on camera.

There is a big gay and lesbian community out there and it’s good to have more relationships on television that they can relate to and I’m glad we could be a part of that.

Have you gotten any fan letters from that community?

Dude, lesbians love me. I’m tall, I have a deep voice, I’m like, ‘Hello, catnip!’ Now that this show’s out I’m curious what happens from here because whenever I go out lesbians try to, y’know, ‘turn me.’

Turn you?

One of my really good friends in L.A. manages one of the biggest gay bars in L.A. and I’m usually there with all of my girls and immediately everyone thinks we’re lesbians because we don’t act like normal girls do — meaning that I grew up with guys and the reason I hang out with these girls is because they’re not girly girls. We go out with no make-up and our hair in a pony-tail just rocking it out like ‘Who cares?’ So when I’m hanging out at this place there’s been a couple of instances where I’ve had to say to girls ‘You’re awesome, but I’m straight.’ And they never believe me! But whatever, we’re all just looking for love so who cares?

You’re mostly known for playing good girls but you have famously played one very bad girl, Canadian serial killer Karla Homolka.

It’s not something to joke about, man. It’s actually funny you brought that up. I was on That 70s Show and I wanted to do something different on my hiatus. I was trying to find something that was the opposite from Donna, so for me as an actress I was like, ‘What an interesting head space to be in.’ But now I’ve done it and trust me I never will do anything like that again. Nor do I want to do anything like that again.

How would you compare her to Alex?

The cool thing about Alex is that she started off kind of like [Homolka] but she evolves and you see her become vulnerable. For me, one of the most important characteristics about any role is that they have redeeming qualities. You want them to believe that the’re innately a good person.

Netflix’s Orange is the New Black has provided the streaming network with its first truly independent hit. Executive produced by former Weeds showrunner Jenji Kohan, the series stars Taylor Schilling as a mild mannered, recently engaged suburban woman who is sent to jail for a crime she committed a decade earlier.

We spoke with Kohan and the cast to get their perspective on the series: